South African fighter held the middleweight belt from January 2024 until mid-August 2025, when he lost to Chimaev.
Published On 19 Jul 202619 Jul 2026
Dricus Du Plessis leaned on his South African roots in his first fight in nearly a year to secure a unanimous decision victory over Nigeria’s Kamaru Usman in the middleweight main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Oklahoma City.
The judges scored the bout 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 in favour of Du Plessis (24-3 MMA), who won his first nine UFC bouts and held the middleweight belt from January 2024 until mid-August 2025.
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Du Plessis hadn’t fought since that win streak was snapped by Khamzat Chimaev, who remains champion.
“I had to get up,” the 32-year-old said. “There’s so many South African kids that look up to me.
“It’s bigger than me, I can’t go lie down.”
Dricus Du Plessis, right, fights Kamaru Usman during UFC Fight Night at Paycom Center [Alonzo Adams/Imagn Images via Reuters]
In a fight fought upright with no successful takedowns or submission attempts, Du Plessis didn’t appear rusty whatsoever, finishing with a convincing 139-99 edge in total strikes and landed 136 significant strikes to Usman’s 92.
Usman (21-5) was the UFC welterweight champion for nearly three years from March 2019 to November 2021. However, the Nigerian, 39, has lost four of his last five fights, and couldn’t add a second straight win with his first fight in 13 months this weekend.
In the middleweight co-main event, England’s Christian Leroy Duncan (15-2) defeated Jared Cannonier (18-10 MMA) via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 for Duncan.
If the United States’ war with Iran evolved out of longstanding tensions over its nuclear program, the focus has shifted sharply to Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz. The result is a chokehold on one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and an acrimonious dispute that has returned the two sides to open conflict.
Despite frequent assurances from President Trump that Iran has no navy and that the strait is open for passage, shipping traffic has plummeted amid renewed Iranian strikes on commercial ships. Diplomacy has essentially halted, and over the weekend, U.S. and Iranian forces continued to trade attacks in the region. Military experts assess that trying to open such a narrow, vulnerable passageway with force in the middle of a war would be a deadly, Sisyphean task.
Casting about for answers, one analytical group has floated a possible compromise model for the Persian Gulf. It’s based on a somewhat obscure, now-defunct treaty that once governed the collective production of coal and steel in Europe after World War II.
The group’s proposal, outlined in a report published this month, goes like this: The countries surrounding the Gulf would treat it as a shared territory — a regional commons of sorts — and charge a nominal fee only to oil tankers for the water’s maintenance. That could fall within international law, satisfy Tehran’s demand for enhanced control and give all eight states bordering the Gulf a stake in maintaining peace, the group said.
“If we can’t imagine a world where these countries are administering a nominal fee to do some maritime safety and environmental work, then that is sort of a bellwether of whether there’s going to be some pathway to a more durable regional peace,” said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, the founder and chief executive of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a London-based think tank focused on development and diplomacy in the Middle East and the broader region.
“Until we get this more basic kind of cooperation right, we’re not going to be able to move forward on the bigger things,” he added in a phone interview.
The main idea behind the proposal is that the Gulf situation is analogous to Europe at the end of World War II. Amid the struggle to recover from two bloody, devastating conflicts, Robert Schuman, France’s foreign minister, rejected trying to isolate Germany the way it was after World War I.
Instead, France and Germany worked together to produce coal and steel, two key components for armaments, under an agreement known as the European Coal and Steel Community. That rendered war between the two historical rivals “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible,” Mr. Schuman said in a declaration in 1950.
France and Germany were joined by Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, a coalition that ultimately led to the European Union.
Achieving such a union in the Gulf would mean overcoming multiple obstacles, not least the diverging political agendas and historical rivalries. Still, the current alternative, trying to pry open the strait using military force, would be daunting.
The Pentagon has planned for decades for how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a conflict, said Mara Karlin, a professor of national security issues at Johns Hopkins University who directed strategic military planning under the Biden administration as an assistant secretary of defense.
Mine sweeping is incredibly slow, strenuous work, and the few U.S. Navy ships designed to do it would be exposed, she said, so an armistice was always assumed as a precondition.
“Reopening has almost wholly focused on a permissive environment because it’s just seen as too difficult to try to reopen and go through this painstaking process of clearing mines when one attack restarts the whole mission,” she said. Planting just one new mine, or even threatening to plant one, can deter shipping.
Another method would be for the United States or some form of international coalition to provide escorts. This process was used by the U.S. Navy to protect Kuwaiti-flagged oil tankers under attack from Iran toward the end of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. That set off frequent skirmishes with Iranian forces, and one warship that struck a mine nearly sank.
The years since have seen the development of much more nimble threats from Iran that include drones and missiles fired from mobile launchers or the fast attack boats employed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, sometimes called its “mosquito fleet.”
“Maybe we can neutralize their capacity to interdict shipping, but all it takes is one mosquito boat, a couple of mines or a few drones to get through, and you’ve effectively blocked trade again,” said Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to various countries in the region, including Iraq and Kuwait.
Neutralizing Iranian attacks would require extensive ground forces to control the long Iranian coastline, which would greatly ratchet up the risk of American casualties. “I think the calculation has been to date that we can reopen the strait, but not on a timeline or at a cost that was considered acceptable,” said Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.
Iran has insisted that Article 5 of the Memorandum of Understanding that the United States and Iran signed on June 17 gave Tehran full authority over restoring normal shipping. It has accused the United States of trying to undermine its negotiating leverage by opening an alternative shipping channel that skirts the coastline of Oman on the western side of the Strait of Hormuz.
In their report, Mr. Batmanghelidj and his colleague Mehran Haghirian at the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation point out that sprawling Gulf ports like Jebel Ali in Dubai already charge service fees to ships that use their facilities, so it would not be a major leap to grant similar authority instead to a supranational body that divided the proceeds.
The most logical step, the authors said, would be to apply such fees on the largest oil tankers that transit the Gulf annually, including 600 massive supertankers that make multiple trips. The yearly value of oil shipments is around $600 billion, according to the International Energy Agency. The carriers would barely notice a small surcharge, and the tankers pose the biggest risk for environmental damage, the report said.
Six Arab Gulf states — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, all U.S. allies — already belong to an organization called the Gulf Cooperation Council. Although generally effective when hammering out collective guidelines on mundane matters like industrialization, the organization is notoriously fractious when it comes to joint political action.
Adding Iran and Iraq to that mix could make the council even more volatile, a concern raised by some European officials, Mr. Batmanghelidj said. They view the Middle East as permanently riven by conflict, but France and Germany had the same reputation after World War II, he noted.
The major question is whether the United States and Iran would buy in.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency published a lengthy essay on July 10 expressing interest in a collective settlement, and it also reprinted the Bourse & Bazaar proposal.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not merely a passageway for the transfer of goods and energy, but rather an opportunity for regional cooperation,” the essay on IRNA said. “If managed properly, its economic and financial benefits can be shared more fairly among the countries of the region.”
Iranian national security “depends on preserving the ‘Iranian arrangements’ governing the Strait of Hormuz,” Gen. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament and its chief negotiator, said in a statement on Wednesday. At the same time, “we must also use the tools of diplomacy and negotiations to achieve and realize our national interests,” he said.
How Mr. Trump might respond to such a proposal is anybody’s guess. Top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have insisted that Hormuz return to the state of unfettered international navigation that was in place before the war.
That seemed to be Mr. Trump’s position. Then he suggested charging a 20 percent fee on all cargo in exchange for the U.S. Navy’s protecting the strait, before dropping the proposal after 24 hours.
So one main hurdle now, analysts said, is the lack of well-defined American policy goals. “I think the biggest negative now is uncertainty where the U.S. stands,” said Mr. Crocker, the former ambassador. “The Gulf states definitely need that kind of long-term U.S. assurance before they’re prepared to take any steps unilaterally or collectively.”
Four years ago, Mel C was feeling like she “never wanted to meet anyone ever again” after splitting from her ex – but she has now reportedly married her model boyfriend, who spiced up her life after they met on a dating app.
On Saturday (18 July), Melanie Chisholm, known by her Spice Girls moniker Sporty Spice, is believed to have walked down the aisle with Chris Dingwall at The Country House in Castle Carrock, Cumbria.
Chisholm’s former Spice Girls bandmates Emma Bunton, Melanie “Mel B” Brown and Geri Halliwell-Horner were spotted arriving at the location on Saturday afternoon.
Mel C met new love on dating app Raya (Getty Images)
“Victoria would have loved to have been there if she could,” a source told the outlet, adding: “It was her great pleasure to make the dress for Mel.” The Independent has contacted Chisholm and Beckham for comment.
Chisholm, 52, shunned a large ceremony in favour of an understated wedding – and opted for the Georgian building, which is co-owned by her close friend, the West End star Ben Forster. Chisholm met Forster when they starred together in Jesus Christ Superstar in 2013.
Guests have described the ceremony as “perfect”, noting that the singer’s 17-year-old daughter Scarlett, whom she shares with property developer Thomas Starr, was her bridesmaid.
“Mel swore she would never get married, so having a big do wasn’t really for her,” a source told the outlet. “It is the perfect venue for them, totally out of the way but in the most beautiful place.”
The singer met Australian model Dingwall in 2023 on Raya, an exclusive dating app commonly used by celebrities.
Mel C with new husband, Chris Dingwall (Getty Images)
In November 2025, she revealed on Laura Byrne’s Life Uncut podcast that her friends convinced her to download it on a night out after splitting from an ex, thought to be producer Joe Marshall.
She soon matched with Dingwall, who was living in Australia at the time, and the pair met when Chisholm travelled overseas for a tour.
The singer was previously in a relationship with Starr from 2002 to 2012.
Chisholm was writing her latest album, Sweat, when she met and “fell in love” with Dingwall, and she told The Telegraph in May: “I ended up having this wonderful arc of emotions throughout the album – of heartbreak and then that excitement of a new relationship.”
She described her new husband as “very laidback” and “loads of fun”, revealing that they work out together.
“We have very similar personalities and lifestyles,” she added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Cuban government’s “brutal crackdown against its own people five years ago is yet another reminder of the unique misery and evil that is innate to the communist system”.
“Otero Alcántara’s only ‘crime’ was refusing to stay silent and using his art to demand the basic freedoms everyday Cubans have been denied for almost seven decades,” he said in a statement.
The cases of Otero Alcántara and fellow SIM member Maykel Castillo, known as “Osorbo”, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence, have been a recurring source of diplomatic tension between Washington and Havana.
That tension has swelled in recent months, with the Trump administration hitting Cuba with an oil blockade, sanctions and openly threatening military intervention.
Last week the BBC’s US news partner CBS reported that the Pentagon was looking at military options in Cuba, although it quoted officials as saying the briefings did not mean any decision to carry out an operation had been made.
The US also announced in May an unprecedented murder indictment against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, over the 1996 downing of two planes, an incident that killed four people. Russia and China condemned the move.
Tourism has taken a major hit amid the US sanctions, with fewer than 360,000 people visiting the island in the first five months of 2026, a decrease of nearly 60% compared to the same period last year, according to Onei.
Washington warned in May that a peaceful agreement with the Caribbean nation was unlikely.
Every parent loses their temper sometimes. Sleepless nights, work stress, endless to-do lists and the daily challenges of raising children can push even the calmest adult to react in ways they later regret. A raised voice, a harsh word or a moment of frustration is part of being human. But what happens next may matter far more than the shouting itself. According to psychologists, apologising to your child after losing your temper is not a sign of weak parenting. In fact, research suggests it can strengthen trust, improve emotional security and teach children one of life’s most valuable lessons: everyone makes mistakes, and healthy relationships are repaired through accountability. Here’s what experts say.
Children learn more from what you do than what you say
Parents are a child’s first role models. Children constantly observe how adults handle anger, conflict and mistakes. When a parent apologises sincerely after shouting, they demonstrate that taking responsibility is normal and that hurting someone, even unintentionally, deserves acknowledgment.
3 Jul 2026 | 12:38
How do you teach children about money and financial responsibility?
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), children develop social and emotional skills by observing and imitating the behaviour of trusted adults. If they regularly witness respectful conflict resolution, they are more likely to use those same strategies in their own relationships.
An apology helps repair emotional safety
Shouting can leave children feeling frightened, confused or ashamed, especially younger children who may not fully understand why their parent became angry. A sincere apology helps restore the emotional connection that may have been disrupted during the conflict. Developmental psychologist Dr. Becky Kennedy, author of Good Inside, often describes repair as one of the most important parts of parenting. According to her, conflict is inevitable in every family, but what builds secure relationships is the willingness to reconnect afterward. Children do not need perfect parents. They need caregivers who repair moments of disconnection.
It teaches accountability without blame
Many parents worry that apologising will undermine their authority. Psychologists say the opposite is usually true. A thoughtful apology communicates that while parents remain responsible for setting boundaries, they are also responsible for their own behaviour. This helps children understand an important distinction: discipline is acceptable, but losing control is not. For example, saying, “I shouldn’t have shouted. I was frustrated, but that wasn’t the right way to speak to you,” acknowledges the behaviour without abandoning the original lesson or household rule. Children learn that authority and accountability can exist together.
Secure relationships are built through repair
Research on attachment theory has consistently shown that healthy parent-child relationships are not defined by perfection. Instead, they are characterised by repeated experiences of safety, responsiveness and emotional repair. According to Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, supportive, responsive relationships help children build resilience and manage stress more effectively throughout life. Moments of conflict become less damaging when they are followed by warmth, understanding and reconnection.
An apology teaches emotional intelligence
When parents name their own emotions, children gradually learn to recognise theirs. Instead of pretending nothing happened, an apology might sound like: “I was feeling overwhelmed and I shouted. That wasn’t okay. I’m sorry.” This simple conversation helps children understand that emotions themselves are not wrong. What matters is how we respond to them. Researchers have found that children who grow up in emotionally responsive environments are more likely to develop empathy, self-regulation and healthier interpersonal relationships.John Gottman’s work on emotion coaching also highlights that parents who acknowledge emotions while setting limits help children develop stronger emotional regulation over time.
What makes an apology meaningful?
Not every apology has the same impact. Psychologists say an effective apology usually includes three elements. Acknowledge what happened without making excuses. Take responsibility for your behaviour. Explain how you will try to handle the situation differently next time. Equally important is listening if your child wants to express how they felt. Feeling heard reinforces trust and helps children understand that their emotions matter too.
Apologising does not mean abandoning boundaries
One common misconception is that saying sorry means letting children avoid consequences. Experts emphasise that these are two separate issues. A parent can apologise for shouting while still addressing the behaviour that prompted the conflict. For example, if a child broke an important household rule, the consequence may still be appropriate. The apology is about the parent’s reaction, not the child’s responsibility. This distinction teaches children that everyone is accountable for their own actions, regardless of age.
Progress matters more than perfection
No parent stays calm all the time. The goal is not to eliminate conflict but to navigate it in healthier ways. Psychologists consistently emphasise that children benefit most from relationships where mistakes are acknowledged, emotions are discussed openly and trust is rebuilt after difficult moments.In the end, apologising after shouting is about more than saying two simple words. It tells a child that respect flows both ways, that love is not withdrawn during conflict and that even adults continue learning. Those lessons often stay with children far longer than the argument that made the apology necessary.
He lost nearly a third of his bodyweight and weighed 63kg.
His recovery was such that he felt able to commit to one last fight, although he said it would be a one-off.
And Askren, who had three UFC fights in 2019, stayed true to his word after losing 6-3 to Muhammad.
Askren produced a mainly defensive performance and clearly faded during the third and final period.
“My legs gave out, they wouldn’t carry me any longer,” he said. “For sure it’s my last time on the mat. I couldn’t find a better place to do this.
“I worked hard over the last year. It was tough. There were times I couldn’t feed myself, I couldn’t stand up or go to the bathroom.
“Every day I woke up and thanked God for the chance to do it just one more time. I promised I’m going to make the most of this day. I’m going to treat people well, work my ass off and try to make a difference in the world.”
Muhammad beat British fighter Leon Edwards to win the UFC welterweight title in 2024 and had the last of his 22 UFC fights in June.
The 38-year-old added: “He [Askren] came back from death, this guy’s a legend.
“He’s changing lives. I know, he changed my life. I’m at home ready to quit. I’m tired, I’m sore, all my losses, but I look at Ben still fighting every single day.
“It shows you man, life is precious. Go after it bro.”
Sports analyst Dan Dakich previews the FIFA World Cup Final between Argentina and Spain, highlighting Lionel Messi’s leadership. Dakich predicts Argentina will win, praising Messi’s consistent greatness. The discussion then shifts to WNBA star Caitlin Clark, whom NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called a ‘political football’ amid physical play controversies. Dakich attributes some issues to WNBA players’ jealousy and envy.
The two soccer powerhouses will look to etch their names in the history books and become World Cup champions when they play at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. The game will be broadcast on FOX.
For Argentina, they have the opportunity to become the first back-to-back World Cup winner since Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962, and just the third country to win back-to-back titles overall. Italy first won consecutive World Cups in 1934 and 1938.
(Left) Argentina’s Lionel Messi (10) reacts during the World Cup semifinal soccer match between England and Argentina in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 15, 2026. (Right) Spain’s Lamine Yamal (19) reacts during warm-up ahead of the World Cup Round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, on July 6, 2026.(Stephanie Scarbrough/AP Photo; Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)
However, for a long time in Argentina’s semifinal matchup against England, it did not look like they were going to have a chance to make history. The Three Lions held Argentina off the scoresheet for 85 minutes, but Lionel Messi sparked another electrifying come-from-behind win.
Anthony Gordon got the scoring started when he buried a cross from Morgan Rogers to put England on the board first in the 55th minute with an acrobatic finish. Harry Kane sparked the counter with a long pass that left the Argentina defense flummoxed for the first time all game.
However, that would end up being the lone true scoring opportunity of the game for the Three Lions. After England got on the board, Argentina’s pressure was relentless, but England was able to stave off the Argentine attack for about 30 minutes.
Enzo Fernandez of Argentina celebrates his goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi Final match between England and Argentina at Atlanta Stadium on July 15, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.(Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
They finally broke through when Messi set up Enzo Fernandez just outside of the penalty box, and the 25-year-old hooked a shot around England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford into the back of the net to knot it at 1-1.
Lautaro Martinez then played the hero as he came off the bench and into Argentine soccer lore by scoring the winning goal in stoppage. In the 92nd minute, Messi recorded his second assist after he gathered a loose ball and played a beautiful pass into the penalty area, where Martinez was waiting unmarked. Martinez headed the ball past Pickford to send the Argentine fans into a frenzy as they completed the comeback.
It was not the first remarkable comeback of Argentina’s run to the title game. In the Round of 16, they scored three goals in 13 minutes to erase a 2-0 second-half deficit against Egypt to keep their World Cup hopes alive .
How to watch France vs Spain: Live stream the 2026 FIFA World Cup Semifinals
For Spain, their run have not been quite as dramatic, but it still has been remarkably dominant.
Mikel Oyarzabal of Spain celebrates after converting a penalty to score his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal match between France and Spain at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas.(Lars Baron/Getty Images)
They have shut out their opponents in six of their seven matches, and has allowed just one goal all tournament. Belgium was the lone country to break through against Spain , but the Spaniards beat Belgium 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Against France in the semifinal, Spain capitalized on an early mistake and never looked back.
Veteran French defender Lucas Digne misread the ball and challenged a ball on a cross, but kicked Lamine Yamal instead, committing a foul and giving Spain a penalty kick in the 22nd minute.
Mikel Oyarzabal stepped up for Spain and buried the penalty kick, giving the Spaniards a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Pedro Porro doubled the lead for Spain in the 58th minute, when he broke through the French defense and found the back of net after beating France goalkeeper Mike Maignan on a crisp pass from Dani Olmo.
The French desperately tried to get back into the game, but the Spanish defense was too sound for them to break through , and held on for the win.
Pedro Porro of Spain celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal match between France and Spain at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on July 14, 2026.(David Ramos/Getty Images)
When: Sunday, July 19, 2026
Where: New York/New Jersey Stadium , East Rutherford, New Jersey
LONDON — LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham will enter 10 Downing Street on Monday with a wave of enthusiasm behind him and a mountain of challenges ahead.
His coronation as British prime minister may be short-lived as he faces the same struggles as his predecessor in trying to temper a cost-of-living crisis, improve overstretched public services, and step into the international spotlight during major wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Leading a government delivering services for 70 million people will be a monumentally larger task with problems on a larger scale and facing issues foreign to a leader of a region with 3 million residents.
Here are the main issues confronting Burnham and some hints to how he may approach them:
Burnham has been vague, but promised to provide details this week about how he would fund a domestic agenda to kick-start a sluggish economy, enhance services and raise living standards.
“This change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years,” he said Friday as he became Labour Party leader. “It will take us to a country where life is more affordable, and all people and places are lifted from where they are now.”
Burnham inherits an economy that was improving until the Iran war upended forecasts and growth is now widely predicted to slow sharply over this year while inflation rises.
He has said he wants to equalize opportunities around the U.K., particularly by decentralizing government, funneling money to local governments and taking back some services that were privatized four decades ago.
His brand of business-friendly socialism — known as “Manchesterism” and aiming to harness private and public money to invest in areas like transportation, housing and infrastructure — could take years to put in place.
Joshi Herrmann, founder of Manchester news site The Mill, who has covered Burnham for years, said he may be able to soften the blow for some people who are struggling.
“But if the essay question is who can get economic growth and who can remodel the economy in the post-Brexit, post-financial crash era, I’d be very surprised if the answer to that question is Andy Burnham,” Herrmann said.
With the uncertain state of public finances, Burnham won’t have much room to raise spending. He is replacing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was elected on a manifesto that ruled out increases in the government’s major tax rates, so he’s locked in unless he breaks those pledges.
Burnham said he would not rule out a wealth tax, telling Gary Lineker on the Goalhanger podcast last week that the government “might be having to ask for a little more.”
Burnham has little foreign policy experience, but has promised to continue the government’s NATO commitment and support for the U.K.’s nuclear deterrent.
He said Britain will remain a strong booster of Ukraine and a firm United States ally.
Relations with the U.S. could depend on how he interacts with a capricious President Donald Trump, who initially gave Starmer glowing reviews only to sour on him for not supporting his war with Iran.
Burnham has publicly criticized Trump in the past but has said he would deal with him respectfully, as he does with others, but would also be willing to disagree.
“I like to think I’ve got some personality myself and I’ll just, you know, I’ll deal with him very upfront in the same way,” he told Lineker. “Where you disagree, do it, but do it in a way that is kind of meeting him where he’s at.”
Trump has pushed NATO members to significantly boost military spending, and Burnham will be under pressure to exceed the defense spending goals set out by Starmer.
The defense plan calling for a 15 billion pound ($20 billion) spending boost is much smaller than military leaders had sought and has been criticized for not being fully funded under the current budget.
Burnham has criticized Starmer’s approach to Israel’s war with Hamas and the devastation of Gaza.
Burnham condemned the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel by Hamas militants, who killed around 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage, but said the British government waited too long to call for a ceasefire.
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government. The ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, is staffed by medical professionals who maintain detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts.
Burnham said the U.K. would consider further sanctions against Israelis involved in Gaza violence and illegal West Bank settlements.
The issue is a sensitive one for Labour, which was found to be tainted with antisemitism before Starmer took over, and also relies on the support of a large Muslim population.
Burnham’s comments drew a backlash from Jewish groups, but he’s also been criticized by pro-Palestinian groups for not declaring Israel’s bombardment of Gaza a genocide.
During his acceptance speech as Labour’s leader on Friday, Burnham did not mention immigration, which is a top issue for many voters.
Like much of Europe and other wealthier nations, the U.K. has seen an influx of migrants fleeing war-torn areas, famine, climate-driven crises, political persecution and poverty.
Concerns over English Channel crossings in overcrowded inflatable boats has helped propel the anti-immigration Reform UK party to victory in recent local and regional elections that led Labour to oust Starmer as leader.
Burnham has largely said he would follow the current Labour playbook on migration, which has touted reductions in net migration from more than 900,000 in 2023 to 171,000 last year. Channel crossings are down 40% this year compared to the same time in 2025.
Burnham wants to continue reducing net migration and voted in support of a bill that aims to further cut channel crossings and direct people to safer, legal routes.
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Associated Press writers Pan Pylas and Jill Lawless contributed to this story.
Before a ball had been kicked, the World Cup was apparently going to make Britain rich.
One estimate put the potential boost to the UK economy at £7.6bn between May and July. Pubs were told that England reaching the final could be worth £275m to them. There would be millions of extra pints, packed bars and a nation temporarily forgetting that it had spent most of the year worrying about the price of almost everything.
And the receipts suggest Britain has spent the past month eating burgers, ordering pizza and drinking an extraordinary amount of lager.
The most obvious winner is the pub. England’s three group games generated an estimated 5.5 million extra pints of draught beer and cider. By the time they beat Panama, pubs, bars and social clubs had sold around 8.6 million pints in a single day – roughly a fifth more than a typical June Saturday.
The quarter-final was bigger still. During England’s extra-time win over Norway, an estimated 12.5 million pints were sold. More than four in five pubs and bars screened the match and, as the game dragged deep into the night, people simply stayed put, with footfall in venues showing it was almost 50 per cent higher than the average pub between 10pm and 1am.
Extra time, it turns out, is excellent for the drinks trade – possibly to quiet nerves around a potential penalty shootout. By midnight, pub spending was more than double what it had been at the same time the previous Saturday. Beer and cider sales after 11pm tripled.
Matchdays meant more than football, with pubs, takeaways and supermarkets all reporting a surge in spending (Getty)
Barclays’ figures tell much the same story. The Panama game produced the busiest pub trading day of the year so far by transaction volume. Compared with an average day in 2026, pub transactions were almost five times higher.
This is not simply a story about pubs, though. In some ways, the more interesting money is the money spent by people who never left the sofa.
Visa found food and grocery spending on England matchdays during the group stage was 10 per cent higher than on equivalent weekdays last year. Across the group-stage period, grocery spending rose 7 per cent.
What did we buy? Pretty much exactly what you would expect a country watching football to buy.
Lager sales rose sharply, cider did too, and premixed alcoholic drinks had a particularly good month. Soft drinks were up as well. NielsenIQ said warmer weather and the start of the World Cup were encouraging viewing parties and other social occasions.
Britain has been unusually hot and it would be convenient, but wrong, to give Harry Kane credit for every burger sold during a heatwave. Retail analysts have repeatedly pointed to the combination of sunshine and football rather than the tournament alone.
Still, a fairly clear World Cup menu is emerging. Fresh beef burger sales were up 40 per cent during the tournament. Prepared salads and chilled dips both rose 13 per cent, while no and low-alcohol drinks climbed 23 per cent.
The cost of living crisis has not disappeared because England got through the group stage. Britain is splashing out, but with one eye on the yellow sticker
The weather helped, certainly, but so did the sudden national requirement for food that can be put on a table and eaten while looking in another direction.
We are not, apparently, cooking elaborate three-course meals before kick-off. Ahead of the tournament, 43 per cent of World Cup followers said they planned to buy more convenient, easy-to-prepare food. The later match times were expected to reshape mealtimes and the sales data suggests they did.
World food also did well. Sales of Japanese, Thai and southeast Asian and Mexican products all rose, fitting neatly with the idea of quicker dinners, sharing food and things that can be opened, heated or put down in front of a group without much ceremony.
The combination of sunshine and football helped turn food and drink into part of the occasion (Getty)
There is another clue in the way we are shopping. Promotional purchases now account for a quarter of sales across everyday consumer goods, helped in part by World Cup-themed offers. Before the tournament, almost half of the followers said they would be looking for deals.
In other words, the cost of living crisis has not disappeared because England got through the group stage. Britain is splashing out, but with one eye on the yellow sticker. We will buy the lager, dips and better burgers; we would simply prefer them on a Clubcard offer.
The supermarket figures support that slightly contradictory picture. Food sales rose in June, but not by enough to suggest consumers have suddenly stopped worrying about money. The World Cup has created spikes rather than a new boom.
A nation that remains cautious about money has simply found a reason to make an exception for Saturday night. Nowhere is that clearer than in takeaway data.
During England games, Just Eat saw orders rise by an average of 16 per cent compared with the same period the previous week. Burgers repeatedly topped the charts, with pizza and chicken close behind.
The tournament’s North American time zones have produced some stranger habits, too. England’s 2am game against Mexico caused orders to more than double in the build-up to and during the match.
There were effectively two dinners: a normal rush between 6pm and 7pm, followed by another between 2am and 3am as supporters opened the app again before kick-off.
The morning after has become a food-based occasion in its own right. Morning orders rose across England’s first five games. After Mexico, supporters apparently decided even ordering breakfast was too much work and grocery deliveries rose instead.
Longer evenings and later kick-offs kept fans eating and drinking well into the night (Getty)
There is something very British in all this. Faced with a World Cup being played five to eight hours behind us, we have not adjusted our sleep patterns so much as added extra meals.
Even the timing of takeaway orders tells a story. For evening and late-night games, around three-quarters are placed before kick-off. People want the pizza on the table and the doorbell safely silenced before the football begins.
The exception was England’s 5pm match against DR Congo, when orders continued rising during the game because football had collided directly with family dinner time.
Pubs have had to adapt to the same timetable. Spending later in the evening rose sharply during the group stage and, on the night England played Ghana, late-night pub spending was more than triple the comparable level a year earlier.
England went far enough for us to know what a World Cup run looks like in pounds, pints and pizza boxes. It looks like 12.5 million pints during a quarter-final. Burgers up 40 per cent. Grocery spending rising on matchdays
NielsenIQ’s on-trade data recorded huge matchday uplifts too. Drinks sales were 45 per cent higher year on year on the day of England’s opening game and nearly 72 per cent higher for the Ghana fixture.
Again, the sun deserves some of the credit. Pub gardens were already doing brisk trade before England had done anything useful.
One for the road: England’s defeat ended the tournament, but five weeks of football had already changed spending habits across Britain (Getty)
But the matchday surges are difficult to argue with. England have done something publicans, supermarkets and takeaway companies have spent much of the past year trying to do: persuade people to create an occasion.
That might be the World Cup’s real economic value. Not the £7.6bn headline, which is an estimate rather than a final bill to be presented to the Treasury, nor the suggestion that a good run of football can somehow repair the economics of British hospitality.
It cannot. Drinks sales were weak before the tournament’s biggest England nights and food retail growth in June remained below its 12-month average. The costs squeezing pubs – wages, energy, business rates and food and drink inflation – do not disappear at the final whistle.
A World Cup is also a finite number of very good nights. England’s defeat to Argentina means there will be no final on Sunday and no last enormous rush of supporters ordering another round or filling a shopping basket for the biggest game of all. The flags will come down and the supermarket displays will eventually be given over to something else.
But England went far enough for us to know what a World Cup run looks like in pounds, pints and pizza boxes.
It looks like 12.5 million pints during a quarter-final. Burgers up 40 per cent. Grocery spending rising on matchdays. Takeaway orders arriving twice in one night because kick-off was at two in the morning.
Football did not save the British food and drink industry, and England could not stretch the party to the final. But for five weeks, the team persuaded a financially cautious country to go out, invite people over and spend a little more on dinner.
